Because of the increasing interest in multi-media applications for computers, computers typically now come installed with compact disc-read only memory (CD-ROM) drives. Such drives generally allow computer users to play video and audio clips residing on CD-ROMs, the clips requiring such a large amount of storage space that frequently the only storage medium feasible to hold them is a CD-ROM. In addition, most drives allow as an added benefit for users to play audio compact discs (CDS). In this manner, a user can utilize his or her computer as an audio system, playing compact discs in the background while using the computer.
However, CD-ROM drives installed in computers typically do not have the variety of audio function buttons usually found on dedicated audio compact disc players for use with stereo systems. Most dedicated audio compact disc players include buttons to control the playing of an audio compact disc, corresponding to such functions as eject, play, stop, next track, previous track, fast forward and fast backward. Conversely, CD-ROM drives typically only include an eject button. Manufacturers of CD-ROM drives therefore expect users to control the playing of an audio compact disc drive through the computer in which the drive is installed.
Previous solutions for computer control of audio compact discs have generally focused on stand-alone or terminate-and-stay-resident providing such functionality. For example, a user of a PC-compatible computer running Microsoft Windows 3.11 or 95 brand operating system may load a stand-alone program from a hard disk drive into memory. The program has an associated window, providing buttons that the user can click to perform corresponding audio controls (eject, play, stop, etc.). Alternatively, the program provides keyboard equivalents to the buttons, so that the user can press certain key combinations to perform the audio control functions.
These programs have several major drawbacks. The programs are usually specific to a particular operating system. A program written specifically for Microsoft Windows 3.11 or 95 brand operating system could not be used if only Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS DOS) is running. Furthermore, the program may be incompatible with other programs also running on the computer. The program is also usually not immediately operative when the user turns the computer on; rather, the user must specifically load the program into memory every time the computer is used. Most significantly, such audio control programs must be the active program in order to work. For example, a user who loads such an audio control program into Windows 95 brand operating system and then subsequently loads another program has to first re-select the audio control program (e.g., selecting its task button in the task bar) before being able to use it. This is inconvenient for the user at best.
Another type of solution, terminate-and-stay-resident programs, fixes this last shortcoming, but does not alleviate the others. Terminate-and-stay-resident programs are also loaded into the memory of a computer from a storage device such as a hard disk drive. However, they operate at a lower level within the operating system than do stand-alone audio control programs; therefore, they are active all the time. This means that upon being loaded into the computer, the programs are always amenable to user input regardless of what other programs are also being run. Thus, a user who is running a word processing program can, in the middle of text entry, type a key sequence specific to the terminate-and-stay-resident control program to perform audio control commands. The user does not have to first activate the terminate-and-stay-resident program.
Terminate-and-stay-resident programs, however, share many of the shortcomings of the higher-level stand-alone audio control programs. They generally are specific to a particular operating system, and cannot be used with a different operating system running on the same computer. Furthermore, such programs are known to be incompatible with other programs, limiting their usefulness. In addition, these programs require the assignment of key sequences that are not used by other applications. Finally, the user of a terminate-and-stay resident program typically must load it into memory every time the computer is turned on. This takes up valuable lower or base memory (i.e., the lowest 640 kilobytes of random-access memory in a PC-compatible computer).
There is a need, therefore, for providing for control of audio functions of an audio compact disc inserted into a CD-ROM drive of a computer that is not specific to any particular operating system that may run on the computer. There is a further need for providing such control in a manner that is compatible with other programs that may also be running on the computer at the same time. There is also a need for providing control of audio functions such that control is automatically and immediately enabled when a computer is turned on. There is in addition a need for providing control of audio functions that does not take up base memory. Finally, there is a need to provide such control in a manner that is active to the computer user at all times.